This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
A vehicle may be configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode in which an operation by a driver is little involved in controlling the vehicle. For example, during driving in the autonomous driving mode, the vehicle keeps in the middle of a drive lane and switches on a turn signal light before changing to another drive lane.
The inventor of the present disclosure has found the following. When the vehicle driving in a current drive lane attempts to change a drive lane to an adjacent lane, or when the vehicle drives in a merging lane and moves to a drive lane, the vehicle turns on a turn signal light (a blinker) to indicate an intention of lane change for a neighboring vehicle including an adjacent vehicle driving in the adjacent lane.
The traffic may be busy or stopped, or the vehicle is within a blind spot for a driver of the adjacent vehicle driving in the adjacent lane. In this case, the driver in the adjacent lane may not recognize the blinking turn signal light of the vehicle, or may not recognize the intention of the driver attempting the lane change.
The driver in the adjacent lane may not make space for accepting the vehicle attempting the lane change due to the above reasons or another reason. It may be difficult for the vehicle to change the drive lane to the adjacent lane or merge into the drive lane.
It may be difficult for an elderly person to change a drive lane or to merge into a drive lane since judgment capability and physical capability may be deteriorated. It may be difficult for an inexperienced driver to change a drive lane or to merge into a drive lane. Such an inexperienced driver may feel nervous when the driver needs to perform the lane change.